Perfectly Manicured
by Madame Puddifoot
Summary: “So do you get manicures or are your nails just naturally like that?” Ginny could have kicked herself for saying the absolutely first thing that came to mind. One-Shot.


Title: Perfectly Manicured

Author: Madame Puddifoot

Rating: PG-13

Summary: "So do you get manicures or are your nails just naturally like that?" Ginny could have kicked herself for saying the absolutely first thing that came to mind. One-Shot. D/G

Disclaimer: Definitely not mine…now read it!

**Perfectly Manicured**

The first time she had noticed, they were in the middle of another one of their arguments. He had insulted her family and she had insulted his. And "surprisingly" (as Ginny often noted sarcastically) they had begun fighting. After an especially vicious comment a livid Ginny aimed to hit Draco Malfoy. He easily caught her arm firmly. It was the first time Draco had willingly touched her, albeit he was only doing it to stop her from hitting him. Her eyes immediately locked onto the hand that firmly held her arm. She couldn't help but hold her breath as she looked at his hand. His nails were perfectly cut and clean, the opposite of all of the boys she had ever known. His hand seemed to be porcelain and the skin so pale that she could see a faint trace of one of his veins.

Ginny vaguely noticed that Draco's hand was slowly and gently making its way to her wrist. He brushed his thumb over her vein that made Ginny think that he was moving to hold her hand. She looked up at his face in astonishment. Draco seemed to have fallen into some sort of trance, had an odd look on his face that Ginny could not quite place. He seemed to snap himself out of his trance. Draco let go of her hand quickly, scowled and swiftly turned on his heel and walked away—leaving a confused Ginny in his wake.

Ever since then Ginny had been thinking about his hands. Those porcelain hands made it hard for her to concentrate on her Arithmancy quiz and she even had difficulty transfiguring Colin into a lamppost. When Professor McGonagall asked her what was on her mind Ginny was sorely tempted to answer, "Draco Malfoy's hand" if only just to see what reaction she would receive.

Ginny's classes were the least of her problems. Ginny's encounters with Draco had become more dangerous, or at least that's how it seemed to Ginny. What were to others light simple barbs took on a much different and subtle meaning for Ginny and Draco. Draco now always seemed to be touching her. He would trace her arm so lightly sometimes it seemed as though he cared. In their arguments he would often crowd her space, making her step back until he had her pushed up against the wall with his body lightly pressed against her own. She would often escape under his arm or some other way. Truth be told, Ginny had become somewhat paranoid. She wasn't afraid of Draco, now she just merely wished to avoid him which was why she had started taking the long way to the common room and to and from classes. However, one day in the middle of her escape route she heard him.

"Hiding from me Weasley?" Draco drawled as he stepped out of the shadows from behind her.

She slowly turned around and mentally prepared herself quickly to face him, "What would make you think that?" She responded carefully. He began to move towards her as Ginny held her ground.

"Maybe it's the fact that whenever I try to have a private conversation with you, you seem to scurry off somewhere else." Draco began to crowd her. Ginny took a few steps back.

"Maybe I should be worrying about why exactly you want to be having a private conversation with me." Ginny said curtly while desperately looking for an escape route as he crowded her even more.

"Many reasons" at this point he began to gesture with his hands "to make fun of you, to taunt you, to bother your brother, to—" Draco stopped suddenly, but not because he had run out of things to say but because—inexplicably—Ginny had grabbed his hand and was staring at it curiously.

Ginny had simply grabbed his hand because his hand gestures were driving her mad, or at least that's what she told herself. In her hand, his skin was as smooth as she had imagined in her daydreams. She spent a few more seconds turning his hand over in hers examining and trying to memorize his various veins and life lines. She looked up to see Draco with the same odd look on his face that he had had the day this all started. Ginny, unable to take the building tension, blurted out the first thing she could think of.

"So do you get manicures or are your nails just naturally like that?"

"What?" Draco spluttered, obviously taken aback.

Ginny could have kicked herself four spitting out the stupidest thing that had been in her mind at the time, "Well, I was just wondering, I mean your nails always look so—" she searched around her mind for a word "—manicured."

"Why do you want to know?" Draco asked in a voice so soft that Ginny wasn't sure if it was actually him speaking for a second.

However, his soft tone forced her to take another look at his hands with wonder, faintly noticing that she still held his hands in her own. They seemed so different in the light, it was as though they were constantly changing. She vaguely thought of lightly pressing his fingertips to her lips in a soft intimate kiss when she realized that she had done just that.

Shocked, she let go of his hands quickly. She was so embarrassed that she was afraid to look at him, but somehow Ginny couldn't stop herself, He had that same odd look mixed in with confusion and surprise. Just as confused as he, Ginny turned and ran away, leaving Draco staring at the spot she had once occupied.

Ginny had succeeded in avoiding Draco for the past two weeks, she was under the distinct impression that he was stalking her, which was quite a disturbing thought. Every time she got out of class he always seemed to be around the corner, and frankly it was getting tiring having to run in the opposite direction every time she saw him. She knew she would eventually have to confront him and whatever had happened between them. But right now she was starved. Avoiding Draco meant avoiding the Great Hall during meal times. She then ended up taking all her meals in the Kitchens with the house elves, who were all incredibly helpful.

She made her way out of the common room in one of Charlie's old shirts that went down to her knees and began to walk in the general direction of the Kitchens. She never really imagined meeting him at night, mostly because she didn't think he'd go into so much trouble to find her. Her logic was obviously wrong because in a matter of seconds Ginny found herself turned around and pressed against the wall by a very swift Draco.

"Avoiding me again?" He said softly. Ginny looked into his eyes and was confused by what she found there. Eyes still locked, he brought her hand to his mouth and tenderly kissed her fingertips. Ginny almost shivered at the soft gesture that came from Draco but was able to prevent it, she couldn't, however, stop herself from sighing. That sound seemed to make Draco snap because he was instantly on her, his lips and hands everywhere. Ginny couldn't have resisted even if she wanted to. "His hands feel heavenly" she thought. However, when his lips finally found hers, she decided that she just wouldn't think anymore.

A/N: Reviews would be greatly appreciated!


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